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By Karl RitterAssociated Press • Saturday May 18, 2013 6:06 AM

Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoAriana Cubillos | Associated PressGen. Antonia Benavides, left, instructs soldiers as part of Venezuela’s Secure Homeland initiative, which is meant to cut down on the amount of drugs and weapons in the capital city, Caracas.

Flashlights in his face, the driver steps out and places his hands on the roof while the
soldiers frisk him for drugs and weapons.

Since Monday, this scene has been playing out day and night at dozens of military checkpoints
set up to attempt to control the oil-rich country’s pandemic of violence.

Critics dismiss the Secure Homeland initiative as a political charade that risks degenerating
into human-rights abuses while having no lasting impact on crime. But to many residents, troops on
the streets are a welcome sight.

“You have to act forcefully so that people feel the force of the state,” said Irving Garcia, 47,
an unemployed former Army reservist who, like many other Caracas residents, has firsthand
experience of violent crime. Garcia said he was shot in the chest when he unknowingly walked into a
restaurant robbery. .

With 15,000 killings a year, Venezuela’s homicide rate is the fifth highest in the world,
according to U.N. statistics. The murder rate doubled during the 14-year-rule of the late President
Hugo Chavez.

Human-rights activists worry that sending soldiers trained for warfare on policing missions will
only make things worse for the residents they are meant to protect.

“It’s going to aggravate the situation, unfortunately, because the army isn’t prepared to deal
with issues of public safety,” said Liliana Ortega, director of the COFAVIC human-rights group.

The soldiers, who work together with the National Guard and national police force, have the
power to make arrests but are supposed to hand over detainees to civilian authorities.